Parenting Expert

This post is written both as a warning for people who do not yet have kids and as encouragement for anyone with kids who doubts their ability to discern the proper way of dealing with all of the gray areas of parenting.

Hi my name is Lisa Bass and I was a parenting expert....before I had kids! I read the books while I was pregnant and had it all figured out. I knew how to get them to sleep well at night, play happily during the day and never throw a fit or disobey there mama. I'm sure any experienced moms reading this are laughing already. I even remember being judgemental of others who had disobedient children. I wondered why people had such a hard time with it. Come on, its obvious, if your child is having a tantrum for something you said no to, just don't give it to them and they won't try that again. A child's will is much stronger than that. Oh, and if they aren't sleeping well just let them fuss a few minutes and they will fall asleep. Again, my kids didn't get that memo! This is only a tiny sample of what I thought I knew. I was perfectly prepared to have the best behaved, hardest working, smartest children in town. They were also going to sit quietly through church. The nursery is only for kids whose parents' have no control over them. (If you've ever been at church with us you're giggling by now.)

My point in all this. Pride is ugly. The Bible says "God resists the proud" (James 4:6) Ouch. It makes one think they know better than anyone else and it keeps them from seeking out wisdom from others' that have walked the road before. It keeps us looking inward for wisdom instead of looking to the creator of all. It makes it hard for us to admit faults and keeps us from turning around when we have started down the wrong road.

A wise woman I know told me to be wary of any parenting "experts" with a one-size fits all solution, who claim they have all the answers and find it possible for parents to achieve perfection in their own strength. Those weren't her exact words but thats the gist. I think that is some great advice for new parents or parents to be.

Of course, I believe its impotant to teach children right and wrong, to raise them to be hard workers and show them how to have a relationship with Jesus. I'm simply addressing the pride isue here which leads us right into the trap of legalism and keeps us from enjoying God's fullness.

Missouri Morel Fever!!

What I've been up to

I've been sewing....a lot. I want to (eventually) post tutorials on how to make a lot of this stuff, but right now I do not have the time. Between two little ones, food to make, a home to keep, a Bible to study, a husband to love (and not in that particular order) etc. etc. I have time to sew a few garments and put them on my new etsy shop, but I'm finding little time to blog about them and make tutorials. But in the mean time, here are a few things I've sewn for my etsy shop ruthiebell.etsy.com

Oh and by the way I discovered an awesome new recipe!! Cheese Waffle BLT''s (with whole wheat flour and turkey bacon)

Here's the link for the recipe: http://jumboempanadas.blogspot.com/2007/05/w-blt-it-may-be-longer-to-say-but-itll.html

You should make them. They are delicious and healthy and take about 1o minutes!

I had a baby!
OK, so it was almost 3 months ago.

But, here is a picture of the little darling!

Johanna Faye 6 lbs. on 11/18/10
I had an ideal birth. Very quick and no pain medication or pitocin.
I'm thanking God for such a wonderful birth, precious baby and my sweet little family!

Just saw the baby's heartbeat!

Luke and I found out about 3 weeks ago that we are going to be having a baby #2!! We are very excited! Sorry about not posting recipes; I am 7 weeks pregnant and struggling with sickness and anything healthy sounds absolutely repulsive. This is not how I normally am but I have to get through this first trimester somehow!! I have been craving pizza, so I will give you a seriously healthy pizza recipe today:


1 tsp. honey
1.5 C warm water
1 T instant active dry yeast
1 t salt
3 C whole wheat flour

Toppings: Organic pasta sauce, organic cheese, olives, green peppers, red onions....



In a large bowl dissolve honey in warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit until it has proofed (foamy) which should take about 5-10 minutes.



Stir in the olive oil and salt and then mix in the flour. Knead for about 10 min. Roll out to make an approx. 15 inch circle (or you can make a square crust if you want, it doesn't have to be perfect) Cover with towel and let rise in a warm, draft free area for about 45 min.



Preheat oven to 425 and then top your crust with desired toppings. For a really healthy pizza, top with organic pasta sauce with no added sugar, some organic cheese (Horizon is a good brand) and veggies, like red onion green pepper and black olives.



You can also get some basil pesto to spread on your pizza, which is very delicious and healthy.



As I said, I'm pregnant and I have been living off pizza and spaghetti the past week because its all I can handle. But, I admit, since smells have been bothering me so badly, I haven't really had the desire to bake my own healthy pizza but I have in the past and they are delicious and worth it!

Hello Evereyone!



It is a gorgeous spring day in Missouri. It's so nice to hear the birds chirping and sun shining!



As you know, I am a big fan of new moms staying home with their children and finding creative ways to be frugal and resourceful. One cost that I think is unneccesary is diapers. My daughter is 15 months and we've never purchased diaposable diapers (except one small package when we were traveling the Oregon coast and no laundromat was avalailable.)

With that said, I would like to take the fear and worry out of the daunting idea, to many, of cloth diapering, by offering you a few tips and tricks.

One of the biggest reasons people choose to not take advantage of cloth diapering is that they are worried about clean up. I had my doubts as well, but once I got the hang of it, it was neither messy nor time consuming.



The clean up method will change as your child transitions from newborn to infant and when your child moves up from breast milk or formula to solid foods. When the child first comes home from the hospital, I found that the best method of clean up, for solids, was to use the little peri-bottle they gave me, after giving birth, to spray off solids into the toilet. You can also hold the diaper by one end and swish it around and lush the toilet. The swirling action of the toilet gets them really clean! There is no clean-up requirement for a diaper that is only wet.

One key thing to remember is, the diapers do not have to be clean when you throw them in the pail. You can simply smear the poo with some tp into the toilet and your washer will do the ret of the job. I was nervous about this concept at first, but now I seriously just throw them in the pail dirty, with the bulk of the mess off. They come out really clean anyway!

As my daughter got older, I noticed she made bowel movements much less frequently, so after the first couple of months cloth diapering was smooth sailing. When the child gets to be about 6 months, and is on a diet of a variety of solid foods, the clean up becomes easiest of all, because, if your child is like mine, the solids will just plop into the toilet. After removing the solids, you simply remove the liners and throw everything together into the wash. (I usually wash every other day.) It is best to use a detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes, so that your child's skin will not be irritated.

It seriously is way easier than you are expecting.

If you are interested in learning more and finding the many diferent brands and styles that are offered, visit my website, brightmama.com!

It was sooo nice out today. We went on a 4 mile jog/walk/run! Ruth liked wearing her pink sunglasses. She was saying cheese when I took this pic!

Money saving tip of the day for stay at home moms: never use your dryer when its 70 degrees outside. Come on, why waste the electric when the sun is burning anyway?

I am convined that almost every family can afford to have the mom stay home if they stopped working to pay for convenience. Think about it, you work a full-time job, so you have to pay a babysitter to watch the kids, buy convenience food because your too busy to cook from scratch, use disposable diapers because the day care won't take cloth, buy baby food because there's no time to make it yourself, spend money on gas to drive to and from the office, the baby sitter and home, buy new clothes so you look nice at work and you have no time to read ads and find out the best grocery deals.....the list goes on and on and soon you have spent more money having a job than simply staying home with the little ones.

Of course the exception is single parents. You have to have at least one income. I truly believe, however, that almost all married couples could afford to have mama stay at home with just a few lifestyle changes.

The firt Bright Mama blog

I thought I would keep this little blog attached to my website because I am always thinking/planning/dreaming of new things to put on my website but there just wouldn't be enough room, so I thought I would have a little online journal to relay my thoughts to you. I might not keep this up everyday or even every week, but just as I have things I just can't wait to share with other creative, resourceful and frugal mamas. Some things you can expect from my blog: some of my favorite recipes and nutrition info. (I am really into reading labels and being educated on what I am putting in the bodies of my most precious and dependent people, my family. ) I will also post basic household sewing projects and instructions on how to make simple and inexpensive dresses fo little girls. (Sorry, I don't know how to sew boy stuff yet, but I may include links to other people who do :) ) I hope to have links to good coupons and offers, too, and some tips on finding bargains at the grocery store. Thats just a preview and I can't say what for sure will come first. I hope you enjoy it and beneit from it!!